Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-10-29
RHYMES THE CHILDREN USE.

THE BOY WHO rs 'rr" IN ENGLISH Is WOLF IN GER
NAN, LITTLE DEVIL IN JAPANESE, LxrER IN
| hALAGAsY, AND CRAZY ONE IN aAwAuAN-uss
| OF coUNTING-oUr RHYNIa
From the New York Sun.
A dignided professor, with bald head, began q
lecture before the New York Academy Of Sciences
last evening In q Columbia College classroom as
| follows:
Eeny meney mfney. mo,
lfhe boilers let him go.
Eeny, meney miney. mo.
0ne.ery. two-ery. xiccory zan.
| Crickabo. crockabo.
Tillery tan
EMERY: mentsry. k9utery. kali.
Mire. brer timber lock.
One flies east. one es west.
! And one dies over the cuckoos nest
Esnery. teenery. tickery. tcvsn.
Pin. pan masiy Dan.
Nineteen, twenty. twenty-one
The dignined professor was DR.. H. Darlington
Bolton, and his subject was 1.-THE Counting out
Rhymes OF Children study in international
E0f D Bolton Tss ne
planned to the audience that v these rhymes
up in twenty languages were used by children in
their games to determine who should have the
most undesirable part. A Header repeated the dog:
fell was set free. Those remaining went through
the same ordeal until the last one remained, who
in Dr. Be!S1 saS s RS
children, FOR In German the one who Is at" Is
called ''wolf' instead Of 'it;" in Japanese "ou"
or a1tle devil In Malagasy "bucca" or 'eper,"
Prof. Bolton said he had collected counting out
rhymes In twenty languages, civilized, half CIV
harharOng top
are the Penobscot Indian, Japanese. Arabic, Turk
iish Ma pG, Bulgarian, Armenian, Swedish
The and sasas
pronounced for repetition, but he recited examples
In dozen languages. In Dutch he had collected
fourteen contingent rhymes In German 269
and In English. 454. Altogether, by corresponding
with scholars In all parts OF the world, he had OBJ
ta1ned SEQ contingent rhymes.
was the familiar
Three four. shut the door;
Seven eight lay them straight, &C.
There is fund OF curious illusions in the dog
gere rhymes, Dr. Bolton continued. Here is one
Napoleon into Russia:
The First Lieutenant was 30 neat
He stopped in battle to wash his feet.
Another, which shows how ancient the patter
is. is:
S Nesbueha I'd s y the King Of the Jews
shipped on MS slippers and slipped on his shoes.
United States Is:
There was little rattlesnake.
And II; msSe hs se SS si1 cake
doggerel, DIR. Bolton said he believed it de-
scended from remote antiquity. The ancientS
were accustomed to cast lots In the most solemn
acts Oflfe. II was considered an appeal to the
Almighty. In the middle ages casting lots was
degraded to superstition, and charlatans used
nmGeaning formulas to on the people pre-
In the well known doggerel:
Eckery. ackery. ukery an.
One-ery, two, cry. &C.,
The 'eckery" is Sanskrit for zone" It is proba.
BILE, Prot Bolton said that 'ackery" was originally
There was only one corrupt Latin verse that Dr.
Bolton could remember. It's:
In. hoe, Domino quod
Ducks foot plump i'll the mud
It is probable that the jingles that the children
and hung around the necks OF people in the middle
ages to keep on the plague or to cure hydropho-
Dla, govt ana rheumatism.
children nowadays however, are inclined to
improve on the old doggerel Dr.. Bolton had in
terylewed good many children in all languages.
and found 1t difficult TO understand them. Con.
sonants were not preserved, and vowels were OF no
account to the children AS an Illustration of his
board:
PHTH-OLO-GN-YRRH.
This was the way man named Turner wrote his
name, and when asked TO justify his spelling, he
said:
mel. Ri 4 in hsthsi sn sounded Cole
'yrrh" in IN rrh" 10 sounded r."
DR.. Bolton gave this example OF the manner in
which children change the rhymes In the Eastern
States there Is Jingle which runs as follows:
John says to John how much are your geese!
John says TO John twenty cents apiece;
John says to John that il too dear
John says to John get out Of here.
On the Pacific coast this has been changed to:
Chin Chong. Chinamsn. how much arc your geese,
Chm Chony Chinsmsn. twenty cents apiece. &c.
=. The latest discovery dug up by DR.. Bolton was
this:
One, two, three. four, 1--WE, six. seven,
All good children 20 to Heaven.
All bad children 20 below,
10 keep company with (iuitaau